In town for the Internet Retailer Expo in Chicago? Stop by and visit the iContact Team at Booth #327! http://yfrog.com/1aq41j Tuesday, June 08, 2010 6:15:31 PM via Twitter for iPhone Retweeted by you and 2 others

#FollowFriday is the simple act of tweeting about who you feel is important enough to follow on social networking sites such as Twitter. In fact, on Twitter, it has become one of the most looked-forward to trends on Fridays. However, you’ll notice that neither my @CommunityMGR nor my @NauticalUrge accounts participate in this social media ritual.

Several colleagues have recently asked me why it is that I choose not to participate, and my answer is simple.

Whereas the original concept of #FollowFriday is a great reason to participate, the adopted method of participating in this trend has lost the original intent. More often than not, most individuals are simply tweeting a 140 character tweet listing off 4-5 twitter followers, but fail to indicate WHY I should be following them.

Why should I pay attention to a tweet that simply lists off a bunch of twitter usernames, but contains no valid reason for why I should spend the time visiting their profiles?

I still believe in the concept, but I don’t agree with the method in which #FollowFriday is being carried out. This isn’t paying-it-forward, or even social media anymore, it’s become SOCIAL SPAM.

Therefore, I’ve decided to make #FollowFriday more personalized and social. Starting today, I’ll be doing #PhotoFridays. I’ll be posting a photo of those individuals whom I feel are important enough, or interesting enough, to follow on various social networks. In fact, I’ll be asking for photos of selected individuals the day of my #PhotoFriday post (hence the name). Along with their submitted photos, I’ll be adding in a short personalized blurb about how this individual has touched my life, and why they should be followed.

My next post will be the first #PhotoFriday post in what I hope will be a new trend that brings a personalized and social concept back into #FollowFriday…